The list of ‘firsts’ accomplished by skydiver Shital Mahajan is almost as long as the fabric in her trademark Indian saree! She was the first woman to complete a parachute jump over both poles without training, the first civilian Indian woman to fly in a wingsuit, the first civilian female Indian skydiving coach and the first woman to skydive on seven continents…

The sky is certainly not the limit for Shital. Indeed, ‘limits’ are not a concept she likes to acknowledge, proclaiming in her TED talk, “I never limited myself. I never limited my ideas.”

What does the future of human flight look like? A flying bike, a single-seat kart and a multi-copter are among the winners of Phase II of the FAI-endorsed GoFly Prize, which were announced this week.

There were five prizes of $50,000 awarded in total, with three going to teams based in the USA and the other two being claimed by teams from Russia/Latvia and the Netherlands.

Heads up aeromodelling fans! The 2019 FAI F3P World Championships will take place in Heraklion, Crete from 17 to 23 March.

Held at the Heraklion Arena, an Olympic-specification indoor arena that has already hosted many international sporting events, they will be the first international air sport event on the island of Crete and the first World Championships in Greece since the 2000 F3J World Championship in Corfu.

Powered Paragliding, also known as Paramotoring, has been selected as one of the sports for the Asian Beach Games 2020.

A multi-sport event for Asian nations, the sixth Asian Beach Games 2020 will take place in Sanya, China, from 28 November to 6 December 2020.

The announcement that Paramotoring would take its place in the event was made on 12 March 2019, by Sheik Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, President of the Olympic Council of Asia.

Amphibious aircraft, flying bikes and fuel cell drive technology were among the subjects explored at the New technologies and power sources for sustainable aviation symposium held as part of this year’s FAI Amateur-built and Experimental Aircraft Commission (CIACA) Annual Meeting.

After a relatively long absence, VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft are making a comeback, says the latest edition of the CIAM Flyer - available now.

VTOL aircraft require no or only a very short runway for take-off and landing and, unlike copters, once they have taken off vertically can transition into normal flight like an ordinary fixed wing aircraft and transition back for landing.

Download the full content of the latest CIAM Flyer on VTOL model aircraft in PDF format!

The FAI is proud to announce the publication of the FAI Annual Report 2018, which is packed full of information about the Federation’s activities last year.

The year 2018 was a busy one for the FAI, with hundreds of exciting competitions and numerous record attempts in a range of different FAI disciplines.

Our 2018 report contains details of these events, as well as the many other incredible achievements made by air sports athletes from around the world over the course of the year.

On 1 March 1999, the hot air balloon pilots Bertrand Piccard of Switzerland and Brian Jones of Great Britain took off on an historic, non-stop, 20-day flight during which they circumvented the globe in just 15 days. By the time they landed on 21 March, they had set a total of seven new world records, including Distance, Duration and Altitude across all balloon types and sizes (Absolute category).